Inflatable mattress



July'29, 1952 s |=l REED INFLATABLE MATTRESS Filed Feb. ll, 1947 ATTORNEY Patented July 29, v1952 UNITED STATES PATE-NT o1=1=-1 1|s 2;604,641'L 'INF-LATABLE MATTRESS StanleytEI Reed, WashingtolL-D. C. y Application February 11, 1947; SriaLNd. 727,902".y (ci: 5 3491 This, invention. relates to supports .and more particularly to a. mattress or bed adapted for .a wide... variety of. uses,A .including Afor homes,v hospitals, ships, camping andlparticularly for 'the armedorces, who..frequently7 must live'un'der especially'rigorousgconditons Where.. it is impossible tohave.. a conventional mattress and springs.. because. of thelweight and vspacerequirements. .of .this same..

.Heretofore,. inatable... mattresses have been -usedeto ,aflimitedrextent but 1 have .suffered'from various.deficiencies, chief lof. which hasv been the lack-.of comfortnbtainable therefrom.v

Withuthe ordinary typeof 'air mattress commonlyy in use, a. substantial. concentration of weight on.Y a. relatively. small area of' the surface; as.: by an elbow,4 knee,. hips `or the like, Would-.oftentimes cause the surface on which the Weighawas restingto bulge inwardly to the opposite- Wall of: the ...mattress eliminating' the cushioning effect of .the .air 'for that area'. At-

tempts have been..made.to. overcomeithis deficiency -by increasing the pressure. within. the mattress. but this .has onlyv proved. partlally satisfactoryasfit. is apparent. thatincreasing .the

pressure will.. materially decrease-.the softness and... resiliency f of Y. the. f. mattress Toentirely eliminate this deciency by. .increasing pressure, pressures would have vtobe. used. of a magnitude which .would..render th'emattress as.

aff-wholeetoo hard for.' satisfactory comfortable use.

The bestthat hasbeen. accomplished .by prior *attempts-is ,to .fstrike a` happy medium based on inatingthe -mattress to a sufficiently high pressuretoresist .ordinary concentrations of vweight kbut Vlow. enoughY that va degree of comfort' was otherwise obtainable..v

'Other means. that havev been. employedto overcomeA thisdifliculty have included vplacing vthe mattress .on-a...surface .with some resiliency,

'the like ofthe conventional feltfor inner yspring mattress-f.

A further object of this invention is'to provide an .-iniiatable mattress having a plurality of'-separate layers adapted to be inflated to 'different pressures in order toprovide the maximum comfort possible and simulate the resiliencyofa conventional--mattress and springs; and which isY completelyA collapsible to V occupy` a minimum of space.

Another object of the invention is to provide an inflatable mattress .having a plurality of separate. layers adapted tobe inatedj to di'f.- ferent. pressures in orderthat the Abody .may rest on a layer of relatively low pressurer to.. experience maximum-.c0mfo'r.t.and.other layer. to providean .insulationior any protuberancesof the-.body that mayextend. through ..the.. layer next. to..the body...

Further.. obj ects.A and. advantages. oi'

,vention will.. be.y apparent. fromrth'ef. following description. takenin.. conjunction. .with .the raccompanying drawings,-.wherein:

Eig.. l `is.y a perspective .of.. 'the .preferred construction.. in .which the .vertical connecting strips extend crosswise of the mattress;

Fig.` 2, aperspective of a. construction similar in. .all respects tolig.. l, except that the .vertical connecting strips extend lengthwise of .the mattress;

` Fig.. 3,- asectionon the line 3 3- oflii'g. 1.;

Fig-.- 4,.a section ontheline 4 4 offFig. 2;.,

Fig. .5, a vertical. section.. of a. modification wherein diagonal Y connecting.. strips are., em.-

Fig. 6Jv a vlvertical: section .of. asmodication havingn three separate.:1ayers..

Referring sto the. drawings,l the. inflatablematftress` comprises.. horizontal.. exterior surfacesv or upper. and lower walls. I U,- side. walls 2 and .end

walls I4. Said. side and said end wallsmayeach comprise-.one integral. wall or separate .upper andlower wall sectionsmay be. provided. An intermediate or inner horizontal dividing Wall I6 is provided substantially midway betwleen f theexterior walls I0 thus providingsuperimposed independent-layers or portionsr II and I3,y defined. by the .horizontal Walls I0, Iside and: end wall`s-|2.and I 4, and the common intermediate wall. I5...- ItA is obvious .that-the walls may be of. integral structure*` or. constructed Aof one. or

more plies.

A. valve I 5 is. provided Afor-.the upper. layer. and azvalvelfl is vprovided forthelower layerof the mattressv in order .that the layers .ofthe mattress mayy be individually inflated .or deflated at; will. The amattress. may.` becompletel-ycollapsed v.to occupyaminimum of'- space whenidesired..v

Suitable connecting Y means such as lateral or longitudinalv ties or partitions I 8 vrnay beintegral with .or .joinedf bysuitable means totheintermediate wall I 6 and to the horizontal exterionwalls I0; However itis apparent that thefpartitions .may be :constructed integrally with' the intermediate wall` if desired.. It will be Ynoted' thatf-the -f partitions extend: completely across the Iindependent layers of the :mattress'an'd are "attached -ini an .orderly mannerin orderthat sufficient supportzmay be provided for lthe horizontal walls andtal'so'fthat' there 'mayi' beadequatev communi- @cationof .air :to all- 'parts of the'independentlayersr I 3 fands! 5 .ofthe mattress. l The primary' pur- .pcsefof theaforesa'id partitions. llistosrestrain the. conninglvralls of 'the mattress from bulging outwardly andlto main'tainthe'mattress in a-substantially rectangular solid form.

l Indentations or depressions 2 I, and raised 3 portionsY 23 will result when the mattress is inflated, as shown in the drawing, the depressions occurring where a tie connects a horizontal exterior wall to an intermediate wall, and a raised portion between the ties, the horizontal exterior walls being of greater length than the intermelformed of non-rigid rubberized sheet material or fabric,Y of the type now generally in use for iniiatable ,mattresses However, I do not wishto limit the invention to a particular type of material. It is only necessary that the material used be of av type in which air may be confined and have sufficient strength and resiliency to perform the necessary functions of this type of mattress.

It is further contemplated that relatively low pressures will be employed in both the upper and lower layers of the mattress in order that the maximum degree of comfort may be obtained therefrom. It has been found experimentally that pressures on the order of one pound per square inch for the lower layer and on the order of "one-eighth' pound per square inch for the upper layer have proven satisfactory. The use of a low unit pressure in the upper layer results in a support having great `softness and resiliency as compared to other mattresses now in use or V'disclosed by the prior art and the use of a slightly higher pressure in the lower layer has been found to be adequate to prevent,'in normal use, a protuberance or concentration of weight on a limited area from extending through both layers of the mattress and contacting the supporting surface.

By using the relatively low pressures indicated above it will be obvious that the use of special equipment, such as a pump, for inflating the mattress will be unnecessary, it being a comparatively VeasyV operation for the user to inate the mattress by blowing into the air inlet valves I5 and I'I.

It is obvious that the terms upper and lower v as used in the specification do not necessarily mean to infer that the mattress is designed to be used with a particular side either up or down.l As now contemplated, the mattress may be of similar or identical construction for both layers and may be used interchangeably with either side up, it being only necessary to vary the pressures of the layers according to the wishes of the individual user. Y

The modication disclosed in Fig. 5 has horizontal exterior walls I0, an intermediate horizontal wall I6, side Walls I2, and end I4 not shown in the view, as with the preferred co-n.

struction. Likewise, connecting means such as ties or partitions 20 are employed. These extend fully across the mattress excepting a small portion ofthe length at each end thereof in order to allow communication of the air within each layer between the cells 24 formed by the par` for additional strength, and extend across the mattress substantially within the cells 2l. One advantagerof this particular modification is that additional support is provided by extending the partitions substantially throughout therlength and by including the' additional transverse partitions. Later movement between the top and bottom is avoided.

Fig. 6 discloses another modification having upper and lower horizontal exterior walls I0 horizontal intermediate walls 26 and 28, side walls I2, and end walls it not shown in the view, as with the preferred construction. Connecting means 30, 3i and 32 are provided which extend across the mattress excepting a small portion at the end thereof as is the case with the construc- .ti'onfshown in Fig. 5v providing communicating cells Sti within each layer. It has been found that the addition of another layer is in some cases advantageous particularly where veryy heavy people are concerned. Then too, an added'degree of comfort is obtainable for the ordinary user who may prefer this type of construction.'

It may be emphasized that the scope of the invention'is not merely that of providing a partitioned mattress orrpro'viding a mattress of a plurality of individual layers but that of providing an inflatable mattress so constructed as to provide the maximum amount of comfort obtaina-ble with the greatest savingin weight and spaceY requirements possible. f

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited to that which is shown in the drawing and described in the specification but only as indicated in the appended claim. l

What is Vclaimed is:

A reversible pneumatic mattress comprising upper, lower, intermediate, side, end, and transverse walls of air-retaining sheet material providing a body having pneumatic portions with `said, intermediate wall providing a separating wall therebetween, spaced subdividing walls connected to and extending outwardly from said separating wall and having portions of their lengths alternately connected to and free from said upper and lower walls for reinforcing and restricting the separation thereby and permitting free cir- Vculation of air in said pneumatic portions, .but

Isions simulating a tuftedmattress.

STANLEY F. REED.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of recordin the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Numberl Name Date 779,576 Berryman Jan. 10, 1905 802,526r Russell, Ji.v Oct. 4, 1905 1,146,615 Dodd July 13, 1915 1,279,467 Smith Sept. 17, 1918 1,371,919 Mahony Mar.V 15, '1921 1,576,211 OKane Mar. 9, 1926 1,610,898 Steiner Dec, 14, 1926 1,738,411 Welch Dec. 3, 1929 v FOREIGN PATENTS vNumber Country hDate Y,3,424 Great Britain Apr. 15, 1909 

